Battlefront.com, the game company known for popular war games such Combat Mission, has announced that it will be publishing DropTeam for the Mac and PC this fall. The game is being developed by TBG Software and is described as a multiplayer capable, real-time, tactical simulation of mechanized ground combat set in the far future.

Here's a bit more info about the game:

You’ll battle for control of objectives on a broad variety of planets ranging from verdant Earth-like worlds to desolate, radioactive wastelands. You will use Dropship's to land fighting vehicles and other deployable assets like sensors, mines and automated turrets on planetary surfaces. You will take direct control of various types of armored fighting vehicles while also coordinating your team, including AI, other human players, artillery support and more. Vast, exotic landscapes rendered in real-time with detailed, accurate physics and ballistics systems and true line-of-sight provide realistic combat. There are no “hit points”, limited view distances, unrealistically short weapon ranges, or other gross simplifications that are typical of many other sci-fi games. DropTeam can be played online on a public server with up to 16 players, or it can be played privately with as few as 2 players, as well as single-player vs. AI opponents. AI opponents can also be mixed in with human players in order to make the teams any size you like.

We will keep you posted on new developments as this game progresses. You can find a link to the game's website below.
Battlefront.comDropTeam

Macgamestore.com today announced that it has sold over 1,000 Macintosh games in its first two weeks of operation. In comparison, the previous store, dubbed "IMG Store" sold 1,000 games in its first 3 months back when it launched in 2002. With nearly 200 products available for purchase, Macgamestore.com features all the hottest new Macintosh games plus dozens of classics, family titles, and much more.

"The response to Macgamestore.com has been incredible." said Tuncer Deniz, the owner of Macgamestore.com and founder of the popular Mac gaming site, Inside Mac Games. "Mac gamers have grown tired of shopping at stores where they are treated like second-class citizens. At MGS, our goal is to provide the best shopping experience for Mac gamers. We even have live help via iChat to provide instant feedback to Mac gamers who have questions about buying a Macintosh game."

Due to high demand, Macgamestore.com will soon be adding pheripherals such as game pads, joysticks, and mice to its product line.

Macgamestore.com recently announced a new deal for Macintosh gamers who visit the store. Order any three or more games, and get Aspyr's Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy for free (a $39.95 value). Simply add three games of your choice and Jedi Academy to your cart, then apply coupon code: jedi. Offer ends 5/13/2005.

Aspyr Media today announced a deal with JIN Worldwide Licensing Management to exclusively represent its highly anticipated original video game property, Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse for global merchandise licensing programs. Under the contract, JIN Worldwide will be responsible for the development of licensing programs for Stubbs the Zombie merchandise, including mobile content, collectible figures, Halloween costumes, apparel, and other categories popular with the game’s key demographic of 17-36 year old males. This deal marks Aspyr’s entry into merchandise licensing and their first time working with a licensing agency.

Licensing programs for Stubbs the Zombie will encompass most major productcategories and will be developed to leverage the game’s appeal and connection to its players. Initiatives in various categories are sought including mobile entertainment content, collectible action figures, comic books and graphic novels, Halloween costumes, apparel, novelties and gifts, online retail, as well as sporting goods.

Stubbs the Zombie is currently being developed by Wideload Software and is scheduled to ship this fall for Mac, PC, and XBOX.

ATI Research is looking to fill an intenship position this summer at their offices in Marlborough, Massachusetts. The intern will be working with the Macintosh 3D Driver Quality Engineering team. Potential applicants must meet the requirements listed below:

University or College student preferably majoring in computer science.

At least 2 years experience with Apple hardware, the Mac OS, and peripheraldevices.

Proficient in configuring and using all Macintosh operating systems.Proficient with configuring/setting up Macs

Players looking for more information on the latest version of America's Army may be interested in a review posted last week by Macologist. Taking into account the drama surrounding the GameSpy debacle and AA v2.3, the review notes, among other things, how a workaround was found.

Here's a clip from the review:

America's Army: Special Forces intends to put players into the shoes of US army soldiers, with a strong tendency towards Special Forces operatives in the last few releases. To do so, the game's developers have created one of the most detailed and realistic military shooter since the original Ghost Recon. Purely a multiplayer game, America's Army comes as close to the real thing as any first person shooter ever has.

A guide titled "Understanding the Video Settings" has recently gone up at the official Shadowbane site. A tewaking guide of sorts, the piece walks players step-by-step in determining where their performance bottlenecks may lie and how to go about adjusting various settings for improvements, starting with the testing of screen resolutions and going on from there.

All the settings available in SB are covered, including Texture Compression, Terrain Detail, and Normal Mapping:

Normal Mapping is a advanced rendering technique for drawing small details on objects. Using an extra texture, normal mapping emulates the look of a higher detailed model by encoding light information in this texture. In the game objects that are normal mapped will appear more detailed, but will incur the need for extra texturing.

The U.S. Army today announced that it has licensed the Unreal 3 engine and will be incorporating it in next generation version of America's Army in the coming months. The Army has been using the Unreal Engine 2 since 2000 in its free multiplayer game.

Here's more from the press release:

"The Unreal Engine has enabled us to develop one of the most popular games in the world. At the same time, the Unreal Engine has provided us the power and flexibility to develop revolutionary training and education applications for use across the government," said Colonel Casey Wardynski, project director and originator of the "America's Army" concept. "The gameplay, environments and immersive action generated using Unreal Engine 3 will allow us to create ever more realistic scenarios and environments through which young adults can learn about Soldiering and through which Soldiers can master skills ranging from lifesaving to countering IEDs in the Global War on Terrorism."

The America's Army game (www.americasarmy.com) has placed Soldiering into popular culture by providing young adults the means to explore key Soldier lifecycle experiences from basic training to operations in the Global War on Terrorism. Since the America's Army game launched, gamers have completed more than 1.34 billion missions and 94 million hours virtually exploring progressive developmental experiences ranging from basic training to the Special Forces Qualification Course. Upcoming versions of the game include America's Army: Special Forces Overmatch, which will release this fall; and America's Army: Stryker-Overmatch to be released this winter.

By harnessing the power of the Unreal Engine, America's Army produces extraordinarily engaging and realistic environments and experiences. As a result, a wide variety of agencies from the U.S. Navy to national laboratories have repurposed America's Army for applications ranging from appended training devices for weapon systems to adaptive thinking and leadership training simulations.

"Our relationship with the Army has proven that Unreal Engine 3's flexibility, versatility and wide array of features can be deployed for greater purposes beyond traditional gaming," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. "We are delighted that our technology is supporting the Army in achieving its mission of showcasing the Army and helping to drive the America's Army game series to new levels. It's also really exciting for us to see how our technology can be used to help the Army prepare its Soldiers for the challenges they confront in real-life scenarios."

America's Army 2.3 is currently available for Mac users and can be downloaded from Macgamefiles.com. An amazing 190,000 Mac users have downloaded the game from Macgamefiles.com since its release.